Creating deer movement via foodplots

[megavites]

Creating deer movement via foodplots
So I’d like to hear some opinions on a couple foodplot topics:
1. foodplot doe factories (per J. Sturgis)
2. creating movement via foodplots
Buddies own 300 acres of mountain property that had gas lines run thru and planted in clover. Lower field on mountain had (3) ½ acre plots planted in clover/chickory/buckwheat mix.
Deer movement comes in along a ridge and filters down thru Hvy woods and selective cut woods and down to fields.
While trying to keep things as simple as possible, the thought is to plant an upper, a mid-mountain and lower foodplots with different seed for FALL hunting.
For example, maybe an Oats, clover up top with a CR , clover mid-mountain and WW down low with Brassicas.
This is just my thought but I know others here may have better suggestions. This is all done via rake and disc attachment via ATV and hand thrown seed.
I’m trying to spread plots out and not create a single destination.
Thoughts?

 

[trampledbyturtles]

1. Depends on your location.
I personally could never create a doe factory. My DPSM will never allow it. I try to provide all the fawning cover I can, every spot counts.
Bucks dont tend to summer on my ground due to a lack of an open understory, but around sept 1 they move in irregardless of the doe population.

 

[megavites]

just to clarify...I'm trying to NOT create a doe factory, which Sturgis implies pushes bucks to bed further away from main and sub groups.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

My previous farm sounds like very similar terrain/scenario. We had most success with ridge top food plots. Narrow and long with edge feathering cover on both side is the ticket. Got to make those bucks feel comfy cozy to step out into the open. Low pressure helps too... bottom food plots are great but tough to hunt do to swirling winds. Good luck! Just some feedback

 

[Iowa_Dave]

My previous farm sounds like very similar terrain/scenario. We had most success with ridge top food plots. Narrow and long with edge feathering cover on both side is the ticket. Got to make those bucks feel comfy cozy to step out into the open. Low pressure helps too... bottom food plots are great but tough to hunt do to swirling winds. Good luck! Just some feedback

Agree with all of the above...especially the part about bottom ground food plots. Several years ago now I worked like a madman and hand cleared about an acre of flat ground that was right on/above a creek bank. Timber all around and strategically located between primary bedding and other, bigger food sources. I also made sure to create good entrance/exit routes too. This place was dynamite for several years. Nowadays though...we too often get swirling winds that wreck otherwise great hunts there...including what was shaping up to be a slam dunk shot on our #1 buck this past fall. At about 40 yards out, he and the doe that he was following, got hinky and left back towards where they came from, etc. On paper, the wind direction was perfect...in the wooded valley, it wasn't. Huh? What changed?

It is my current perception that the trees in the area have grown up enough now that they "block" the wind from breezing through the valley as they once did. I can't think of other reasons why it used to work perfectly on certain winds there, but nowadays, pretty much doesn't. (Winds are much more predictable up high, like a ridge top.) So I am planning using the chainsaw to harvest some logs for lumber and also just drop some of the trash species so the wind flows through that area better. We'll see...we'll see.

 

[SwampCat]

just to clarify...I'm trying to NOT create a doe factory, which Sturgis implies pushes bucks to bed further away from main and sub groups.

creating a doe factory was the best thing I ever did at my place. Since trying to do that - and being successful - I have the highest deer density in the area - and the highest buck density in the area - by far. I have two properties - eight miles apart in the same river bottoms - and they manage nothing alike. Mr Sturgis is a knowledgeable deer manager - but not so much that his advice applies to every piece of deer ground all across the US

 

[Someday isle]

I’d think a lot of the answers might depend on how much land you’re working with And the size and number of your plots. If you have lots of room to experiment that might lead to different answers to the questions. I have small harvest plots as opposed to large feeding plots. I prefer the smorgasbord approach to every plot so that deer have a reason to visit them year round. I bought into the LC cereal grain mix from the very beginning and that’s what goes in every plot for me. While I believe the deer browse from plot to plot I also know that a couple of my plots seem to get frequented more by individual doe groups. I’d rather have three plots with three different doe groups using them than multiple monoculture plots And the deer being more stressed by trying to share the plots.

 

[Chainsaw]

I too am in the LCmix camp- with every type of food in every plot when possible. Also plots do not necessarily need to be huntable to make them worthwhile. And too many does is not a bad thing here either.

 

[chummer]

I think doe factories are a bunch of crap used to sell books. 90% of us will never have too many does.

 

[Peplin Creek]

I certainly don’t have that many does but i don’t shoot them either. I started adopting sturgis’ theory of doe factories...planting food later in the year. I will say my hunts are tad more boring but the quality has definitely increased I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a pre-rut/rut sit where I thought odds weren’t in my favor of seeing a shooter. Did I have doe factories before... no but I think I had a lot does using up available bedding space.

 

[megavites]

I hear ya on Sturgis. I take him w/ a grain of salt.
What's the LC cereal grain mix? I like the idea of spreading a mix across the mountain so different doe groups can take residence.

 

[Chainsaw]

Mega items, Go to forums, click on Lickcreek and then thumb down to LC mix thread. In fact if you haven’t already read every thread in the Lickcreek section, do it. It will be time well spent.

 

[scott44]

I hear ya on Sturgis. I take him w/ a grain of salt.
What's the LC cereal grain mix? I like the idea of spreading a mix across the mountain so different doe groups can take residence.

Here's Paul's (LC/Dbltree) plot rotation.

Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[TreeDaddy]

Thanks for posting, Scott^^^^^^

......never gets old

bill

 

[IkemanTx]

The area my family place is in runs about 2.5 dpsm.... I can run a doe factory for a decade an not hurt a thing!!!

As far as separating food sources, I think that is always a good idea provided the plots are hunt-able.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[meyerske]

From what I've seen, I believe that Jeff Sturgis' theory on doe factories is real ON VERY SMALL PROPERTIES. If you are talking about 20 or 40 acres, it can be a problem, but for medium and larger properties, it is not an issue at all. Just ask the Drurys, Lakoskys, and Kiskis if they are worried about doe factories. On my 183 acres, the more property improvements I make, the better the deer hunting becomes. I have a 20 acre property that I would call a doe factory. I don't know of a better place to kill a buck during the rut.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

From what I've seen, I believe that Jeff Sturgis' theory on doe factories is real ON VERY SMALL PROPERTIES. If you are talking about 20 or 40 acres, it can be a problem, but for medium and larger properties, it is not an issue at all. Just ask the Drurys, Lakoskys, and Kiskis if they are worried about doe factories. On my 183 acres, the more property improvements I make, the better the deer hunting becomes. I have a 20 acre property that I would call a doe factory. I don't know of a better place to kill a buck during the rut.

I'm confused. You said that Sturgis' theory on doe factories is real on small 20 acre properties...and can be a problem. Then you said that on your 20 acre property which you would call a doe factory there is not a better place to kill a buck during the rut. Maybe I'm not reading your post correctly?

 

[meyerske]

From what I've seen, I believe that Jeff Sturgis' theory on doe factories is real ON VERY SMALL PROPERTIES. If you are talking about 20 or 40 acres, it can be a problem, but for medium and larger properties, it is not an issue at all. Just ask the Drurys, Lakoskys, and Kiskis if they are worried about doe factories. On my 183 acres, the more property improvements I make, the better the deer hunting becomes. I have a 20 acre property that I would call a doe factory. I don't know of a better place to kill a buck during the rut.

I'm confused. You said that Sturgis' theory on doe factories is real on small 20 acre properties...and can be a problem. Then you said that on your 20 acre property which you would call a doe factory there is not a better place to kill a buck during the rut. Maybe I'm not reading your post correctly?

No, you're reading it right. The problem is if you want to hunt bucks outside of the rut on my 20 acres, you are not going to be very successful. During the rut, you'll be in heaven. It's feast or famine on doe factories.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

No, you're reading it right. The problem is if you want to hunt bucks outside of the rut on my 20 acres, you are not going to be very successful. During the rut, you'll be in heaven. It's feast or famine on doe factories.

This is almost our exact same scenario. We are on over 150 acres and have about 6-8 sets of does and fawns that live here year round. Mature bucks don't show up until mid-October and most disappear mid-December. We have been wondering how to address this, but think we are just going to accept the scenario as is.

 

[meyerske]

No, you're reading it right. The problem is if you want to hunt bucks outside of the rut on my 20 acres, you are not going to be very successful. During the rut, you'll be in heaven. It's feast or famine on doe factories.

This is almost our exact same scenario. We are on over 150 acres and have about 6-8 sets of does and fawns that live here year round. Mature bucks don't show up until mid-October and most disappear mid-December. We have been wondering how to address this, but think we are just going to accept the scenario as is.

Mid October to mid December isn't too shabby at all. To my understanding, that is not a doe factory.